Video has established itself as the most effective medium on LinkedIn, achieving 5x more engagement than other types of content. However, the question remains: which types of video ads yield the best results, and what are the best practices for running them?
In pursuit of these answers, I had a conversation with Sofia Eriksson, Performance Marketing Manager at Storykit. Sofia generously shared her expertise on the types of video ads that thrive on LinkedIn and explained the strategies behind their effectiveness.
Best practices for LinkedIn video ads
Before we dive into the examples, let's start with essential tips from Sofia for running effective LinkedIn video ads:
- Use the video views objective in your campaign to learn what appeals to your audience. Analyzing retention rates helps identify what content resonates.
- Employ longer videos to raise brand awareness among audiences unfamiliar with your brand.
- Shorter videos are effective for retargeting and engaging audiences at the bottom of the funnel who already have some awareness and interest.
Top 4 LinkedIn video ad examples
1. Share personalized content in video form
People want to learn from others. If you have insights to share, show yourself in the video sharing those insights. This personal approach resonates and encourages viewers to watch.
What makes this effective:
- An instant hook with a headline appearing in less than two seconds.
- Helpful advice targeting our audience’s pain points.
- Authentic visuals showing a real person.
What to track: Focus on monitoring both click-through rates and watch time. We've included a link to the complete article in the video's comment section, along with a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the video directing viewers to this link. The goal is to track how effectively the video engages viewers and prompts them to delve deeper into the full content piece.
2. Get to the point quickly with a list
List-based content, or listicles, are a superb way to convey information swiftly and effectively. They cut straight to the chase, highlighting key points and insights in an easily digestible format. If you have essential information to share, transforming it into a list can significantly amplify its impact.
What makes this effective:
- The headline provides a clear preview of what to expect.
- The list format offers instant gratification with immediate answers.
What to track: Focus on impressions and retention. This is an example of no-click content that is designed to educate directly within the feed, prompting viewers to engage and watch as much as possible. Therefore, we're focusing on tracking impressions and the overall view rate to gauge how effectively the video captures and retains audience attention.
3. Relate to your audience with customer stories
People love hearing from other people and this customer story video proves it with an average view-through of 75.59% out of a 1.25 min video (!). That's over a minute.
What makes this effective:
- The use of testimonials adds a layer of authenticity and trust, as it features real experiences from another party.
- Using a real image with quotes makes it more trustworthy.
- Crafting the content in a narrative style makes it more relatable and engaging.
- Skill-fully addressing a problem and its solution resonates with the audience, making the video not just informative but also impactful.
What to track: Another example of no click-content! We want people to consume this story and be inspired by it. For that reason, we are just tracking audience retention and views.
4. Capture attention with a "visual hook"
To ensure your message fully engages viewers with minimal drop-off, begin with a visually arresting element and keep your message concise.
What makes this effective:
- The use of a visually engaging element, bright and prominent, immediately stands out in the feed.
- The messaging is concise, straightforward, and to the point, ensuring viewers receive the core message quickly.
What to track: The primary goal here is conversions. This brief video is designed with a clear call to action: encouraging viewers to book a demo or learn more about our tool.
Further reading: LinkedIn video ads Q&A with Sofia Eriksson
Methods to create high performing LinkedIn video ads
Now that you have these examples, it's time for you to start creating. Remember, a common mistake in LinkedIn advertising is focusing too much on a single video, only to be disappointed by its performance. Success in video advertising on LinkedIn comes from variety and trial. Engaging your audience effectively requires experimenting with various storytelling styles, visuals, and lengths. Embrace this learning journey to find what truly connects with your viewers.
Below are the methods we used to create the provided video examples. While we used Storykit, these approaches can also be used with other video tools.
→ Storykit's text-to-video AI is free to start using now.
Turn blogs into videos with AI
Our first 2 ad examples were initially blog articles transformed into videos using Storykit's text-to-video AI capabilities.
This process involves simply inputting the source text into the AI, which then summarizes it into a well-structured script. And you can do this with any text.
Turn case studies into videos with templates
With our case study videos, we have a standard template that we like to use with a challenge, solution, result format. We can easily duplicate it for a new case and then update the content.
Test visual hooks
For the final video ad example, we really embraced the process of learning. We tested 3 things before launching the final version.
First, we tested two different “visual hooks”—by taking two different videos from our stock library—to see which one had a better view rate.
Then we tested a “visual hook” vs. no “visual hook”.
Out of all of these, having the “visual hook” of the busy freeway was the winner!
Remember, the effectiveness of an ad is often a discovery process – you won't know what works best until you test it.
Further reading: Winning strategies for full-funnel social media video ads
Concluding thoughts…
When it comes to running video ads, don’t spend a ton of time creating the perfect video. Your audience craves engaging video content – and plenty of it! So start experimenting with different formats and styles right away!
If you find that a particular approach isn't yielding the desired results, be bold and make changes. This is the quickest way to learn and get results.
Unsure where to begin?
Copy one of our examples above or try to transform one of your top-performing LinkedIn text posts into a video. This strategy often leads to surprisingly positive outcomes.
